Skies
by ThatSuperFan
Summary: The last time I posted this, it messed up. Let's give it a new try. The sky has a special place in Kara's heart. This is a three part oneshot collection. Can be read individually or as a series. I will however, post one part at a time. Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters.
1. Birds

Birds… Kara was fascinated by them. Even after being at the planet Earth for weeks, she still found herself looking up the sky watch them play or haunt or whatever they did. They didn't have birds on Krypton. The first time Kara saw one, she screamed. But she learned they weren't dangerous and now she rather wanted to befriend them. Although that would not be possible.

It was the way they got to fly free, she thought. Especially since the Danvers family made it really clear for her that she was not allowed to use her powers. She wasn't allowed to fly. Yet she could, and seeing the birds use _their_ power of flying freely, made Kara dream that maybe she wasn't so alone after all. It was a farfetched thought but she couldn't help but think that the birds were also aliens trapped on the earth, given the ability to fly. This was most certainly not true, but the thought was comforting.

Every day, Kara would spend her recesses on the small beach close to the school. It wasn't as big and didn't quite have as many birds as the one where they had been when Kara saved the baby and woman from the car. If she had to be honest, Kara preferred the smaller one. The birds who were, were friendlier. These circled closer to Kara. If she stood really still, they would come up to just a few inches in front of her.

"You are so cute," she would tell the birds. "If I could I would bring you food every time I came here. I'm so sorry I can't. I am not allowed to," she said while taking a big bite of her peanut butter sandwich. The bird looked at her with big black eyes which made Kara's stomach twist and she forced herself to finish her sandwich before even thinking about giving the rest of it to the bird.

"You are pretty lonely too, right?" Kara said to the bird. "I know. Maybe you have your family somewhere. I don't… My parents died. It's a long story. And it happened far away from here."

"Alex! What on Earth is your sister doing? Is she talking to that bird?" The best thing about the beach was that it was pretty far from where the rest of the students used to be, so Kara could pretty easily ignore the outside noise, but sometimes it just caught her ears and then it was hard to shut it out again. And Alex came running.

"KARA!" The bird flew away from Alex's fast movement.

"Alex, you scared it."

"Kara, stop it! Everyone is staring at you."

"I'm sorry," she said, making herself as small as possible when the others caught up on them.

The mocking flew from six different mouths. It was hard to keep up with what each was saying. Their voices were so loud in her head that she had to fight with all her being not to cover her ears.

"Why can't you just act normal?" Alex's voice cut through the sound of the other teens. Kara wanted to ask Alex how she was supposed to behave normally when no one would teach her how to. She wanted to tell all the other peers to stop staring and mind their own business but she could't find the courage.

"Alex, I am sorry."

"Yeah, you should be," said a girl Kara thought was named Evelyn.

"I seriously don't get the deal with her," Rick whispered to Alex, thinking Kara wouldn't hear it.

Piercing through the many voices like a sharp knife was a sudden loud and high pitched alarm that Kara was not familiar with. It was so sudden and so loud that Kara couldn't help but cover her ears in agony. Now that their voices were muffled, the peers' eyes said it all. Kara was eager to get up and further from the judgement and the screeching alarm.

Kara wasn't sure where her legs were taking her. Just as she passed the school building, the bell ringed, calling the students in after recess but Kara kept running. All the noise, all the judging and not understanding haunted Kara down the street to what she hoped was her way to the Danvers' house.

"Hey!" Alex's voice filled with anger and embarrassment. "Kara stop!" But Kara did't stop. She could hear her sister panting behind her. Her breath was strained and she kept spitting as she went. Kara was just too fast for her and she didn't even use her super speed.

"What is actually wrong with you?" Alex said when they finally stopped at the big house they lived at.

"I'm sorry," Kara peeped again.

"Stop saying that all the time! We are in so much trouble right now! For leaving school."

"I left. You didn't have to."

"Yes I had to. Mom would kill me if anything happened to you."

It wasn't the first time she'd felt this way since she arrived at the new planet. Guilt. Guilt over coming in to this house, turning the world on its side for her adoptive sister. Maybe she would be better off without her.

She kept to herself the hours following. The bench behind the house where Jeremiah first had given her the glasses was quiet with a beautiful view of the ocean. Today the sun was really warm so the birds sang extra much. Other than that, there was not much noise for a regular human. For Kara it was a little more than that. It was sound from the ocean and cars on the roads further from the house. That was as calm as it could get and it was peaceful.

In her fantasies, her parents sat with her at the bench. Kara would teach them all sh had learned so far about the planet. She would tell them about birds and trees. She would show them the bird table where she and Jeremiah used to put out food for the small animals surrounding the house. And they would all be welcomed into the Danvers' house. Because they would all have escaped Krypton. They would be a family of six. Stronger together.

Kara wasn't aware that she fell asleep on the bench, before Jeremiah woke her up. She was in the middle of a dream where her and her mother went to feed the birds near the school. In her dream she was allowed to. Her mother enjoyed it just as much as she did. Her father stayed behind to build an even bigger construction for the animals to eat on.

"Hey Kara, dinner is ready," Jeremiah told her in what was her real life. "We made it earlier because we figured you hadn't eaten in one and a half hour."

"Could I talk to you for a minute?" Kara jumped. She hadn't noticed Alex went up to their room after dinner while Kara helped doing the dishes. She nodded, even though she'd rather just get her school books and go outside and do her homework.

"Mom was mad at me for you running away from school." Alex said. If it was anger or sadness in her voice was hard to tell.

"I didn't mean to get you into any trouble. I'm…"

"No don't, Kara. I already told mom I am sorry."  
"You? But how?"

"It was not cool to let them mocking you. Mom told me how much you have to deal with. And even if you hadn't gone through all of this, it's still not okay to be mocking you. You're different, Kara. But you are nice to people."

"It's hard, you know…" Kara admitted, breaking a long silence that had occurred between the two girls. "I can hear everything. Not only people talking to me. But other conversations. I hear people in the hallways during class. The cars and even the ocean when it's windy. I am sorry. The alarm that went off today was so loud in my head. And I couldn't concentrate on all the people talking to me at the same time. I know I need to learn to control it. And I will."

Without even realizing it, the feelings took over her entirely. It was the first time she cried in Alex's presence. As shocked as Alex must've been over the sudden emotion overload, even more surprised became Kara when she felt her adoptive sister's arms around her. It was awkward but comforting. Neither of them were sure what to do next. Kara didn't dare to hug back, she didn't wanted to hurt Alex.

The moment was groundbreaking for the girls. It was like a lightbulb lit up in Alex and she couldn't possible be embarrassed or angry at the alien coming into her home. Kara felt relief when she was able to explain how different and _visible_ everything was in this world. She was shocked to learn that Alex hadn't found out about the lead in Kara's glasses that suppressed her vision. The older sister wanted to know everything about it but it would have to wait until all of their homework were done.

"Please help me with this," Kara begged, struggling to memorize the assignment she had gotten. "There are seven continents on Earth… We live in America. Which is an English speaking country. But is Europe also a country where they speak English or is that London? I keep forgetting."

Alex couldn't help but laughed at her sister's eager to learn. She was so excited about it that she often jumped steps ahead and mixed stuff up.

"Europe is a continent and London is the capital in England, where they speak English, yes. You've been doing that for hours, I think you're done for today Kara."

"Only one more and I'm done, I promise."

"One more and we'll get down to get something to eat," Alex smiled.

"Wait, this one is about penguins. Did you know they're birds who can't really fly? Can I please just answer this one as well?"

"On Krypton it was so different. We didn't have this yellow sun and we definetly didn't have sunsets like this," Kara told Alex later that night when they were sitting on the balcony eating their evening snack.

"Then you should wait until it gets really dark," Alex said happily. When the sky its clear you can see the stars really clearly."

"My aunt used to teach me stars on Krypton," Kara said. "Are they different here?"

"I think so. If you want we could watch them tonight and see." They smiled at each other.

"I'm sorry for not always understanding you, Kara. I will be more like a sister for you from now on. Can you forgive me?"

"It depends," the younger girl said. "Will you start to teach me all I want to know about Earth from now on?"

"I promise," Alex said. "And I will show you how to get close to the stars without ever getting harmed. Look at this," she said and pointed to a large object Kara wasn't familiar with. "Have you ever used a telescope before?"


	2. Stars

_Earth was so different from Krypton. Most of the stars were named the same but they were lined very differently. The feeling of the cool summer breeze on the balcony was also new to Kara. She loved it. She had used a telescope before, with help of her aunt but even that was a very different feeling here on earth. Or perhaps it was because she hadn't used one in a long time._

 _Very soon, Kara began to count down the hours every day, until the sun would set and Alex would invite her to sit at the balcony with her. It became a thing, that either they would go out and watch the stars together or if it was cloudy, they would watch a movie. However, Kara definetly preferred the stars._

 _When they got older, the star watching evenings became more rare. During High School years, Alex wouldn't watch them until very late at night and Kara made a thing to always go to sleep in a decent time. They would take time at weekends and holidays but when Alex moved out of the house, two years before Kara, the cozy star evenings stopped completely. To this day, it had been years and years since Kara had even taken a moment herself to look at the night sky._

All of this were things Kara thought of when she sat down at the small table for two in her apartment, late that evening. Memories flashed by. Memories that had faded over the years but suddenly appeared crystal clear, as if they had been made just the other day. Kara pulled out a chair. She hesitated before she put down a cup of tea on the table before her and then finally sat down herself. It was all silent, even for her. She wouldn't find the peace she needed. Kara was basically bouncing up and off every wall. She had to force herself to stand still for a moment. But even then, her heart wouldn't stop racing, causing an uncomfortable feeling in her entire body. Alex was gone.

To be more exact, Alex was not really gone. She was just not with Kara. And Kara didn't know if or when she would ever be again. After Kara got affected by the thing they called Red Kryptonite, she had left the entire city in danger. What pained her even more was that she'd been seconds away from hurting Alex to, who knows what level, had it not been for Hank. Or, J'onn J'onzz as he really was. When he saw Supergirl floating in the air over Alex, prepared for one final strike, he had revealed himself to the city as Martian Manhunter. The guilt was unbearable and it had led to a lot of interrogations and ended with J'onn and Alex finally being able to escape and were now on the run. Fugitives. Meaning it would be dangerous for them both to return. Meaning it would be almost impossible for them to meet Kara. Rao knows for how long.

The tea was getting cold. Kara wished the pain could go away but it was as an unwanted stranger, sitting too close on the bus while smelling like fertilizer. She didn't have the courage to call James. Sure, he had been just as worked up about Project Cadmus as she had. He had also helped her when telling Lucy who Kara really was. But there was something deep inside of Kara that kept reminding her that James all too recently had told them that they weren't okay. That the stuff she had said to him under those 24 hours was out of line. She didn't wanna bring that up again.

She remembered a thing Alex had said, when she was in a bad situation with Winn not too long ago. "Space and time". Which Kara hated but later had come to her senses with. She was thinking this would be the solution to this problem as well. She tried to block out. Tried to give the city what they needed; to be left alone for the minute. The fire truck signal that echoed… People down the street and in the park chatting, laughing, screaming. They didn't need Supergirl. The only problem was, she needed them. With less enthusiasm than she'd ever felt before, she changed into her Supergirl outfit, flying out the window of her apartment. Deciding to go with the screaming from the park first (she didn't wanted to startle the firemen again) she decided to take on a smaller group of people that was in a fight, apparently about money. There was a unanimous reaction. All four of the young adults took several steps back at the sight of the fallen hero. They scuffed one another aside to be the first one to leave the scene. And Kara felt hopeless. Heading up to the sky again, Kara noticed that the small fire the firemen had went out for, was already under control and she wasn't needed. There were no major crimes to take on. Everyone was afraid that Supergirl would come to the rescue. All the cats -and snakes for that matter, was inside, safe from any potential tree disasters.

It was in her nature helping people. The conversation with Lucy from earlier popped up in her head. The memories of the day on the beach when she saved that woman and baby. Jeremiah begging her to never do something like that again.

"The world already has Superman. All you need to be is Kara Danvers."

But things had changed. Her entire life on Earth, she had felt the need to feel worthwhile. The brief time she had gotten to feel so, had been the best time in her life. She didn't wanted to be just "Kara Danvers" anymore. She was born Kara Zor-El after all.

"ALEX!" Kara spun around in the air, hearing that name being called out loud. "Dad, tell Alex to stop taking my parts!"

"Chris, you can both hand me the parts from that box. It's not just yours."

Kara usually wouldn't sneak up on people in their home but this conversation had caught her ears immediately. She hesitated only for a second, before concentrating and let her vision go though the walls and the windows of the very flat the conversation come from, exposing a family of five in their living room. A man, around the age that Jeremiah had been when Kara first came to live with them. There were two boys, whom Kara assumed were Alex and Chris And there was another man, holding a baby in the doorway. The man with the baby smiled at the man on the floor, holding up a piece of some engineered wood of sorts. Alex and Chris, both seemingly around the age of 5-6 jumped around, holding up screws, nail and a drill machine.

"Alex, be careful with the…" but the warning came one second too late. The drill went on, shocking the little boy who dropped the machine to the floor where it made a deep dent. Kara couldn't take much of this anymore. She flew to the window, ready to step in when she realized that if they were as scared of her as everyone else, then lurking outside their window wouldn't help.

She pressed the doorbell. Holding her breath. There was a good minute until someone opened. The man was blonde and he was still holding the sleeping baby over his shoulder.

"He-help", he whispered, taking several steps back.

"No. I am not here to harm you," Kara blurted out as quick as she could. "I'm here to help."

"He-help?" the man said again.

"I heard noise from here and er- I figured you were having trouble."

The two boys were now standing behind the blonde man, their eyes big as tennis balls.

"Is she dangerous?" the boy she thought was Chris, asked.

"We don't know, boys," said the man. To Kara he said: "Step away or I'll call the cops."

"No, sir please. If you let me explain. I am here because I heard noise. And I was wondering if I could help in any way?" An entire rhythm of curse words escaped the other man's moth as he was still struggling with the furniture, he apparently was trying to assemble.

"Austin, I cut meself on the stupid screwdriver," he said, his accent slightly Irish.

"Ach, here let me look", said Austin, leaving the baby in a crib near the living room.  
"Mind if I take a look at the furniture," Supergirl called out, already stepping in, closing the door behind her.

The two men made an attempt of becoming friendlier with Kara, as it went on. They offered her tea, which she accepted, but it still got pretty awkward. The couple, as they turned out to be, and their twin sons and small baby girl, sat in the corner of the room, watching as Kara struggled with putting the right pieces together. The A panel didn't fit with the B panel as the instructions said and she realized that it was only because the A panel she was holding was in fact a panel C. And the table leg she was holding, she clutched so tight, it almost bent in the middle.

It was a little past 1am when she finally could get up on her feet and admire the fully functional IKEA table that she had managed to assemble for the family. The boys were asleep in their beds, a long time ago. Austin was half asleep with their daughter in his arms and his partner had decided to take a shower.

She left the apartment, satisfied. It was a weird feeling about it all, but it was a good kind of weird. Like right after you kissed someone for the first time and you felt so special at that very moment and you have no idea what it could lead up to. Kara's stomach twisted. She remembered making a similar comparison to her sister the time she first saved that plane. It seemed like such a long time ago. And Alex had been so mad at her for exposing herself. Kara hoped she would be proud of her right now. But then again. She'd rather have her sister coming down at her completely, telling her that she was insane, stupid even. Anything else than the situation they were in now. Up in the air, she felt weak. Like she could fall at any second. Where ever Alex were, she had to be safe. Alex was tough, she tried to comfort herself. Standing alone and not knowing was scary, but Kara knew that she had a sister who could make anything possible.

Back at her loft, her everything was as she had left it. The tea stood cold on the table, the chair standing several feet away from it. An unfinished painting stood close to the couch. It had been there for weeks. Looking out the window, nothing was the same. The city that had used to relay on her, counting on her to save them was slow to forget. Looking outside, even the weather had failed her. It was cloudy now so she couldn't see the stars anymore. She wondered if it was cloudy where Alex was right now as well. Wishing they to would the stars the exact same way at the same time. That way, it would be certain that they would both be within a certain area. Not too far apart. Still on the same planet. The last time Alex had been so far away from Kara, they were on different ones.


End file.
